1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to call initiation and, more particularly, relates to automated call initiation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contact centers, also known as call centers, typically use automated dialers to increase productivity. These automated dialers (sometimes referred as “predictive dialers” or “power dialers”) work on the principle that a dialing system should be calling numbers before an agent is ready for the call in order to have a call ready for the agent when the agent becomes available. When an agent is ready, the call is transferred to the agent. As a result, a called party may have already answered on the other end. This system works well for agent productivity; however, it has several serious disadvantages. The most notable is a delay between when the called party answers the call and issues a greeting, and when the assigned agent replies. This delay and the unnatural human call initiation that accompanies it are caused by the fact that the call was initiated by an automated dialer looking for a live person and not by an actual agent.
Furthermore, automated dialers are also typically implemented using a centralized dialing system that initiates the calls described above and then transfers the calls to user terminals when certain conditions are met. These centralized dialers are traditionally very expensive systems.